


The Redlights

by Dredgen_Smoothie



Category: Destiny - Fandom, Destiny 2 - Fandom
Genre: AU, Destiny 2, F/M, Gen, Multi, OC/Canon, Other, destiny au, destiny!au, evil!AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-01-16 06:42:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21266723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dredgen_Smoothie/pseuds/Dredgen_Smoothie
Summary: The Traveler was infected by SIVA that transformed all saviors into murderous villains.I actually started writing this in September so when Shadowkeep came out I was super excited! This story follows my OC, My sister’s OC, and my brother’s OCSRenida, Ruhyne, Tourmaline, Faren, and Equinox.





	1. Explanation

In this world all the Guardians have been infected with a red light substance that took over the Traveler, meaning all Guardians became evil and reversed their natural order..

Guardians kill anyone on sight, they feed off of them like mere livestock. All humans have gone into hiding and try to survive. Hawthorne gathered a lot of them when it first started, it effected every Guardian that owned a Ghost and took over everyone within four days. 

The Redlight effects their personalities in different ways, they are now strong enough to be immortal without their Ghosts. Their weakness is hunger for enough starvation can make them killable. They’ve grown taller in size and colder. There are three groups.

\- Chaotic normal, they are sane and well aware of their new bloodshed, they take pride in it and continue hunting. Normal white iris but with glowing red pupils. 

\- Halflings, they aren’t entirely sane and can’t focus on things.. they forget easily and can’t contain themselves at the smell of blood or meat. Their eyes are red with irritated whites. 

\- Ferals, they’ve lost all sense of meaning except one thing; kill. They go by no rules and can’t listen to reason, they are driven by blood and roam the streets. Their eyes are just solid blank red irises. 

In this story it follows me and my friend’s guardians, each will be described here.

Mine are the following;

Ruhyne Sov, once a mighty hunter now foams the EDZ forest dragging a large sword, her height is 8’5 and she follows the description of a Reckoning Knight. She was once the noble wife of Zavala but when Redlight took over, they forgot each other entirely. 

Renida Rose, a sweet flower warlock who turned into a halfling, her insanity keeps her up and she was infected with the virus after crashing with The Drifter, he left to get supplies but became a Feral/neutral hybrid.. Renida was hurt and couldn’t heal herself, she was infected quickly while believing the Drifter would come back. She’s smaller than most and follows Equinox and Faren. Her long red hair remains tangled and her bangs hide her eyes, she has a small branch lodged in her skull from when she was rezzed. 

My brother’s 

Equinox, once a fun loving hunter now resides as a 7’5 dark grey Exo that means business, he runs the small group of three as a leader and is cursed with planning things that he can never finish. Every hunt he plans it never works out the way he wants.  
He’s very serious and takes his position serious, too. 

Faren Krov, a knowledgeable and calm blue haired warlock, now became a silent version of himself. He stands at 7’9 and challenges Equinox’s hand many times, they both dislike Renida but Faren seems conflicted with a pull of light that’s buried deep within him. He suffers from visions of the vex portal and the other dimension, where everything is normal. 

My sister’s 

Tourmaline Krov, a Purple haired warlock that was happily married to Uldren Sov. She was a plump soft nerd that was transformed into a Succubus styled guardian, who relies on her man to catch their meals and she rewards him generously each time. She wears only the smallest amount of coverage and can lure almost any man with her voice. 

There are only three Guardians who can kill other Guardians, Shaxx, Zavala and Ruhyne.

I hope you enjoy this fiction I’ve been writing for our group, it’s all for good fun! I love writing villains and imagining what a FICTIONAL world of just villains would look like.  
All shipping between canon and OC are just our lore preferences, I do hope you enjoy this take on Redlight guardians.


	2. Waking Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was a small piece on how EFR-3 (Equinox, Faren, and Renida) work together normally.

Equinox wiped some blood from one of his traps tiredly, they had a large haul that morning and all of them felt relatively full. 

Renida sat on the floor cross legged as Faren worked at trying to get the large stick out of her hair, needless to say it was stuck in there for good.

She ignored the painful tugging as she talked to her new ‘friend’ which was a limbless torso with a head laying limply to the side, she demanded on bringing it back to base but they’re used to this by now, soon it will stink and they’ll just wait till she’s asleep to throw it out. 

She was currently telling them about a previous ‘friend’ and acting as if they would answer her, Equinox’s metal brow tightened as he began to get more angry at the excessive voice in his left ear. 

Faren gave the stick a rough pull, her head jerked with it “Ow Ow Ow Ow OW!” “Oh quit complaining,” he huffed as he tried again, no success. He then gave up and let go of it, standing and stepping over Renida’s knee and towards a work bench. 

Equinox felt a small bit of relief when he thought it was over, boy was he wrong. 

faren came back with a sharp pair of stolen scissors, used for cutting meat from bone. 

Renida took one look at the scissors and backed up “No!” Faren sighed “It’s the only way I can get the blasted thing out of that mess of yours”

She gritted her teeth _“IF YOU DON’T KEEP THAT BLADE AWAY FROM ME I WILL SLIT YOUR THROAT!_” Faren angrily threw the scissors into a pile of metal “Next time you complain I’ll just rip it out!” 

”**If you don’t stop with that blasted yelling I will rip out your spines and make sure the only food you’ll eat is from a can, got it?**”  Equinox threatened them both as he looked up from his weapon, squinting angrily at the two. 

It was later on Equinox-3 decided he had work to be done and ditched the two, it’s been three days and he still has yet to return.

Faren slept soundlessly as they awaited Equinox’s return since he never tells them where he’s going or when he would be back.  
Renida sat by the corner of the room with her headphones on, Drifter’s voice replaying from her walkman as she silently words what the tape says. Which happened to be his last message to her from the found tapes long before this mess began.  
She grows tired of scratching the wall with a piece of glass and now resorted into staring at Faren in the darkness.

She huffed and put her Walkman away, climbing up onto Equinox’s bunk with a bottle of water, she patted the pillow for a moment with a smile before she leaned her arm over the side and watched the water slowly tip towards the opened lid.

A few drops landed on Faren’s face yet he remained still, almost at peace for once since the transformation, He wasn’t the lightest of sleepers even before SIVA. 

She tips it more until it starts to splatter onto his face, he wakes up with a start, swearing and trying to block the water, Renida finally stops and just grins at him through the dark abyss of her hair “You looked thirsty”

He glared up at her “You’re wasting our resources.” His voice laced with grogginess, she tilted her head before deciding to pour the rest out onto his face rather abruptly. 

Faren’s eye practically twitched as she let out giggles from above “That’s it!” He raised his right hand out and summoned his dawnblade, stabbing the mattress frame above him, and ultimately impaling her with it.

She let out her final giggles in a gurgled fashion before trying to sit up with the sword still stuck, though the blade’s handle did not fit through the metal frame and she couldn’t lift herself off of it, Faren took the handle and yanked it back out before it dissipated in thin air “Now that we understand each other-“ he saw how soaked the bed was above him, knowing Equinox will have to replace the entire thing later.  
She sat there and waited to regenerate as her blood stained Equinox’s entire bed.

She stared at him from the open hole in the mattress as Faren muttered, “You’re making a mess.”  
He sighed but then looked down to see blood was dripping onto his covers in small amounts, panicking he tried to pull his covers up near his face so he could keep his blanket “Y-Your fault~” she mused as she climbed down the ladder, her guts on full display as the skin tissue slowly pulls itself back together. 

Faren averted his eyes as he turned to face the wall with his blanket pulled up beside him, too tired to deal with the situation now. 

Faren awoke hours later with more energy to get things done, he noted the blood trail out the door would most likely be everyone around the house by now since Renida never stayed still long to heal. 

He got up and tossed Equinox’s entire bed set out of the window and into the stray trash riddled streets, mentally electing Equinox to find himself his own bed.. this wasn’t his problem. 

He went to make some tea but stopped when he noticed the small bits of blood on his own blanket “Oh great,” he grabbed it and headed towards one of the apartment rooms that seemed to be styled for washing clothes and armor, strong cleaning products hang neatly on the shelf as Faren made sure everything in the room was in order. 

He went around collecting different towels and rags that also had blood on it, tossing it all to the side to wash, He heard the front door slam open and knew Equinox was home. 

Equinox entered the room and simply glanced at the blood around, not really caring as he stepped over Renida’s sleeping frame on the rug, accidentally kicking her with his shoe as he did so. 

She didn’t even flinch, but he could tell she’s just sleeping, he made his way into the kitchen and grabbed a can of old noodles and made his way towards their room. 

He stopped in front of the door Faren was currently in “You decide once I’m gone to make the worst messes?” His deep voice spoke with little care as he then locked eyes with Faren’s blanket.

Faren’s eyes followed as he was busy putting items in the wash, seeing as the Exo stared at the small amount of blood, he simply shrugged “I happened to impale Renida with my weapon sometime last night” Equinox stayed silent and waited for him to rethink his wording, finding pleasure in making Faren uncomfortable. 

Faren noticed the silent stare and then began to repeat what he said in his brain before continuing “She was on your bed, and I stabbed her with my sword”   
Dead silence, Equinox staring at him with red orbs that seemed to burn into his skin.   
Finally Equinox could mess with him.   
More versions came after:  
“She was on top of me and kept pouring water on me, So I stabbed her pelvis with my blade, how is it so hard for you to understand that?!”   
“Why are you looking at me like that? I told you! She wouldn’t leave me alone last night!”  
Faren’s face began to get red with embarrassed anger as he took a second to properly phrase himself “She woke me up and wouldn’t leave me alone so I used my d a w n b l a d e and stabbed her in the chest!” 

Equinox made a visible smirk “Thats all you had to say.” Watching how fuming Faren was, wanting to drive the final nail in the coffin, he stayed quiet for a moment just to watch his team member go to turn back to his work before uttering the following.

“First time for both of you, huh?” 

He meant simply saying Faren has never stabbed Renida before, but Faren knew what he was insinuating. 

Faren turned and marched towards the Exo, slapping the meal out of his hand and punched him square in the face, causing Equinox to grab his shoulders and headbutt him.  
Renida woke up to the sound of fighting and things crashing, she simply sat up and fell asleep leaning against the couch.


	3. Retro

Renida has been talking a lot about her new friend to the other two of Disaster Trio, to the point they drowned it out and wished she would just shut up.  
They were to busy trying to figure out exactly where all the humans were migrating to safely with all of these Red Light guardians around, someone was saving them.  
That someone? Suraya Hawthorne.   
She’s been getting past their surveillance since the beginning, really diminishing their chance at massacring everyone. 

So Faren and Equinox stood over a large table of information as Renida played around with a gambit coin “I wish I could bring her home! To meet you both! We could be best, best, best, friends! Yes, yes! We-” “Can it! Will you?” Equinox yelled as he sent a glare her way, she shrunk and started to mumble a poem from a book Faren said once, so long ago perhaps it was before all of this? Yeah, perhaps...  
‘He thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.’   
Her rapid hand movements around the gambit coin only seemed to irk the Exo further. He decided to ignore her and they went about their day.

Renida began to leave more often for long periods of time, they suspected she made camp somewhere else and had a dead body waiting inside of it, but as the days went by and she came back smelling of EDZ woodland and no death trail to follow, they figured she’s found something imaginary.   
After all, they seen the Drifter outside around the city, not once have they interacted yet.

Faren read from one of his books as he drank hot tea in his right hand, relaxing on a less busy Saturday.   
He drowned out the constant gibberish Renida spoke of, how her friend told her they can only see her if she’s in this glass ‘box’ plus more insane nonsense.  
“She asks about you both quite a lot though, yes yes, all about our jobs! How great is that?”   
Faren stopped for a moment, she’s never spoke of any dead ‘friends’ that could communicate before..   
“What kind of questions exactly?” He sat up as he looked at her, she played with her hair and tried to rip it out at times “everything, everything, EverytHING!” She grins “She never lets me play, no, never! I just want a hug, yes!”   
He knew getting a real response was bogus from her, but he had the suspicion maybe this ‘friend’ wasn’t what it seemed.

He talked about it later to Equinox, they decided to place their tracker on her and follow exactly where she’s going.

The next day came and she had a bag dragging with her “What’s all this?” Faren grabbed it from her and looked inside to see it filled to the brim with canned food and water. “Nothing, yES! Nothing, I’m not lying.. No no, never LIE!” She laughed nervously as he looked at Equinox, who nodded to let her take a quarter of the bag. 

Equinox waited by the door for her to leave before catching her attention “One more thing,” she stared at him with red inflamed eyes as he patted her back “Don’t forget the hunt is at six.” He spoke in an almost too cheery voice and she fell for it, Melting into the touch with a grin “six, six, six~ got it” before heading out. 

Equinox pulled out a folded screen that booted up quickly, they watched the little red dot go around some buildings while often stopping for long amounts of time. The red dot made its way around the same building a few times before straight pathing close to the City wall, it went deep towards the EDZ and through thick forests that messed up the tracker at times.. Her location finally stopped at this location north west of the church. 

They geared up and headed that way, staking our the place from a distance as they saw a cave entrance blocked by a truck.   
“You think she’s just pulling our leg?” Equinox said as he looked through the scope.  
Faren was resting against a tree as he sighed “None of them ever spoke before..” 

She stayed there for hours, no movement from outside and definitely no contact until around five, that’s when she crawled out from beneath the truck with empty hands and made her way back towards the Tower.

They remained as Equinox rose his sniper rifle once more to see another frame come from underneath the truck carrying the same bag from earlier “There she is, the ol’ Messiah herself.. getting information on us through weak links, of course she knows every inch of this bloody place” Equinox gave the sniper rifle to Faren as they both watched the poncho frame climb inside of a ditch and disappear into the distant trees. 

They planned the next trip for the ambush, making sure every piece of the puzzle went correctly. 

Renida left them in a hurry that day, claiming she wants to have enough time to hang out with her friend “You know what, take the day off.” Equinox said without looking up from their large table, she made her way towards the door “Be home later, I promise!” No response came from the two, causing her to slightly frown as she shut the door.

They waited until she arrived and got comfortable before heading there with the necessities, Chains, traps, non-lethal weapons, anything you could imagine to trap someone.

Equinox would go inside and easily command Renida to help, Faren would stand guard of the exit with all of the traps Incase she made a run for it.

As Equinox shimmied under the truck she heard voices come from inside   
“That’s nice.. real charming, now tell me about your location? What’s it like?”  
Renida’s voice seemed rugged from crying “You like me, don’t you? Why won’t you let me out.. I’m not going to hurt you,, I-i’d never!”  
“You know I can’t do that, please answer the question.”

“Up high, a nice view, you’d like it there! I’d love to show you.. myself, yes! You just need to open this d-door” Metal was heard as she let out a scream, Equinox could finally see the situation. 

What seemed to be some sort of makeshift containment was made with full bullet proof windows, metal framing by scrap, and a barricaded door.

Renida slammed her fist into the door “I can’t breathe in here, too close!” She paced like a predator in a cage as she let out sputters of giggling and yells through gritted teeth.  
“Hey, stay with me! What about Equinox? A smart man... yeah? What does he tell you about missions?” 

Red eyes peered through long bangs, staring deep into Hawthorn’s soul and sending shivers to her core.  
“Why do you care so m u c h about them?” Renida’s voice echoed as she shook in rage, a hand pressed against the glass.

Hawthorn took a chance and placed her hand on the other side of the glass “To be your friend of course.. If you tell me about them, then we can all be friends” she let out a weak smile as Renida calmed down. 

“O-oh, that makes sense.. He said Dreaming city....dreaming would be nice.. I miss that...”  
Equinox squinted in anger and aimed his own creation at Hawthorn’s leg, it was a slingshot type weapon that when cocked back it could release a ball chain with small sharp edges that would cling around whatever surface it caught in its claws. Depending on how close one is, it can take a leg off or at least sprain it horribly..

Renida glanced around in a paranoid fashion before she locked eyes with the hidden Equinox, unable to hide her joy “Why not ask him yourself, yes?” Hawthorn turned as soon as Equinox pulled the trigger, it missed her completely and hit the glass instead with a loud shatter.

Equinox cursed and stood with his own chain, swinging it and trying to snag her before she made it to the exit.   
Renida huddled in the mess as Equinox yelled through the coms for Faren “Your turn, don’t mess this up!”   
Faren saw her squeeze through the top of the truck and tried many times with the weighted chain net, though she knew this place more than them, slipping through large tree roots as Faren followed, Eventually loosing her to the sewers.

Equinox was fuming “Don’t come back unless you have good news” he threatened before Faren’s voice responded “Guess I won’t be coming back, then.” 

The walk home was silent, Renida followed them with no words as Equinox practically glowed red with anger. Faren was already calculating the next plan of attack as his ‘buddy’ was stuck repeating the same thing in his mind; ‘she told her our next location spot, Hawthorn now has enough time to move her people if they are there.. our plan was ratted out by someone I should’ve cut off long ago’

Once home everyone split up, Faren drew on maps by memory on which trail he followed her “We can follow these three tunnels and eventually find something” he was the optimistic side of a plan, always.

Renida sat in the corner as she grabbed her Walkman with shaky hands, pressing play and closing her eyes. 

“Hey, you made it to the last part of my lil' seminar!~”

Equinox watched as how they went around like nothing happened, that his master plan wasn’t spoiled by some insane brat, his one answer to everything was lost by some optimist in a sewer. 

Equinox crossed the room with quick strides as he stared at the walkman with fury.

-“You caught me without much else to say. Haha.... Already talked your ear off..”

He squatted to her level, putting on a relaxed face as he tapped her

-“But I guess there is one thing. I want you to know that you're the closest thing to a wheel-horse I've had in, oh, a thousand years..-“

“Say, do you mind if I listen?” Equinox spoke with a eerie tone, Faren looked up from his plans towards the two.  
She shook her head and handed the walkman to him, headphones resting on top of it.  
She was smiling, happy to see someone wanted to listen.   
That’s all she wanted, right?

He stared at that smile, something so genuine... it made sickening feeling take over him.. disgust.   
Slowly he began to crush it in his palms as he watched the happiness drain from her face, the sound of plastic cracking and snapping was heard as everything else remained silent, the distant voice coming from the small headphones were abruptly cut off. 

She was frozen with a look of pure terror, he only stared at it until he felt the punishment was fair, standing and tossing the mess onto the floor in scattered pieces.   
“No, no, no, no, no!” Red lightning came from her in erratic waves as tears poured from her face “wHY? W-h...y” she tried to piece it back together with unstable hands, many pieces were still out of her reach. 

Equinox simply stood there and watched before turning to Faren “We need to scour the perimeter of the EDZ, she still has to leave orbit. Let’s make sure she doesn’t” He swirled his chain and headed out the front door, Faren started to follow after as he shared one glance at the current state of the walkman.   
Shattered like someone’s last bit of sanity, the one thing that held them up through everything. What a disappointing visual.   
He almost felt a twinge of something inside him, something begging to be set free.. he hated it.

Faren walked on as his boot collided with the collective pieces Renida had already put together, giving it a kick as the parts went flying again.. and with that he took his supplies and left, closing and padlocking the front door from the outside.


	4. Rescue mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome Tourmaline and Uldren to the playing field!

Renida’s time after they left.. 

The Walkman’s pieces were all together now, but still smashed beyond repair as a quiet broken voice croaked out of flowing tears “I can fix it...” 

She laid there beside it for a while as she took the cord and tied it around her arm to the point it would hurt, muttering quietly to herself “what did he say again?...”   
“I can’t remember.... I can’t.. oh no...” more tears came as she refused to leave the spot, she ultimately fell asleep beside it on the hardwood floor.

She woke up and realized it was night time now but no sign of her friends, she was was alone again like she was on her crashed ship.  
She stood and made her way towards the bedroom with an idea in mind “They can fix it! Fix it! Just need to....help them! Of course!” She looked at their comfy yet messy room with the plan of cleaning, and so she did.   
Making sure everything was perfect for her friends, because that’s what they deserve right?   
She finished tucking in the beds and grabbed her hair with shaky laughter “All done, all done, all done!” 

She stumbled back into the living room and collapsed beside the walkman again..  
And there she stayed with the same blank expression for a week.  
She was awake, but she completely shut down.   
Though she seemed better by the next week, standing yet refusing to eat any of their food as she exclaimed “They’ll be back soon, and hungry I bet!” Renida later began to scribble on the chalk board as she tried to rip her own hair out, it took her that long to realize then that the door was locked from the outside. 

Renida tried for hours to remember what the tape said through scrambled materials but nothing would come, she couldn’t even remember the voice anymore  
Except for one word, ‘Wheel’ that was in her brain on loop with the concerned expression she had. 

Tourmaline laid across her silk bedsheets as she frowned at the screen she had in her grasp, her revealing robes resting perfectly on her curves as she listened to the recorded data from the Disaster trio’s apartment.   
She had bugged it some time ago, Uldren silently snuck in through the balcony and planted a perfect flat surfaces camera that would pick up every bit of movement or whisper.

She had recently looked at all of the footage and the longer the boys stayed out, the more she saw an opportunity take place.  
Uldren sway stepped into the room as he held himself with high authority, though his eyes melted with love as they caught sight of his wife.

He stopped beside the bed and kissed up her arm for a moment, earning a closed eye grin from Tourmaline. “I found what you asked for, though I wonder how exactly this will impact our plan” he handed her a newer walkman, it had a few extra buttons but still took the same tapes as before. 

“Call it, leverage.. My Dear~” she practically purred our as she watched the screens “I’d say tonight is the perfect time to gain the upper hand, don’t you agree?~ After all, I’ve always wanted a family.” He’s instantly filled with so much purpose on how he wishes to give Tourmaline everything she needs. Uldren begins to leave for a hunt though Tourmaline stops him “Please, stay” He approaches the other side of the bed with a soft grin, and the scene fades away.

Later that night Uldren quietly walked the streets of the City, an empty vessel for what used to remain.   
He made his way towards the apartment and noticed no light coming from the windows, he looked around before heading inside.

As he climbed the stairs he finally met the padlock, a pathetic attempt to keep something out. But he knew better, it was meant to keep something in. 

He cut it easily with a pair of pliers that he spun in his grasp, clipping them back onto his belt as he slowly opened the door, it was almost pitch black inside minus the outside lights shining in.

He fumbled around and found a light switch, turning it on to see Renida still staring off at the walkman “You aren’t my friends” she said with a raspy voice, the light inside of her pulsed weakly with hunger.

“Your friends? Is that what you would call them?” He closed the door and leaned against the couch arm rest, a book slid off and hit the floor with a loud thud.   
She didn’t respond, except for now she stared at him through over grown bangs. 

“Your friends are gone Rennie, how sad..” he trailed off, playing a well good actor as his eyes danced around the room, “Just like that, all gone” he used his hands to emphasize “Poof~”

He swapped his weight to his other foot as he took smooth strides towards the walkman, Renida instinctively put her hand over the mess as the boot came closer to the pieces.

“But today is your lucky day,” he crouched by her as she sat up weakly.  
“My Wife wants me to bring you home, and she even brought you a present.. how thoughtful~” Uldren hummed out as he held out his hand, the walkman slid around to face her from his smooth fingertips.

Renida eyes it like a hawk as she yanked it from his grasp and held it close “Why?” She muttered as she kept the item close, afraid to loose it  
“That’s a question you’ll have to find out for yourself~” he let out a small chuckle. “Come now,” he let out an exasperated sigh “These boys aren’t your friends, they jumped ship.. gone, left you to rot..” he curled his lip into a side frown as his eyebrows rose, but his face soon faded into a caring one that Renida just couldn’t help but trust immediately.

She nodded as tears started to fall from her inflamed eyes, giving him a friendly hug that for the first time ever, was returned.

He waited for her to gather the broken walkman and put it in her side bag, and during that time he rested the crow’s leg on the table with a sly smirk. 

The walk back to their home was nice, Renida felt the cool night air as her brain drowned out any small talk Uldren tried.   
‘What if she doesn’t like me?’  
‘Who?’  
‘Who?.. you know’  
‘no I dont’   
‘you’re right.’ 

As Uldren unlocked the door and lead Renida into their home, she was instantly surprised at how different it was to her previous home.  
“Beautiful” she blurted out, not even noticing as she smelt something delicious coming from the kitchen.  
Her Red light instincts took over without hesitation.

It’s been almost a month, longer since you even smelt food.

Have to eat, no time to wait.

She’s quick to end up in the kitchen, seeing a plate already made with a delicious looking substance.  
It had the same look as a rare cooked stake, blood pouring out of it as a baked potato laid beside it with a scoop of butter.   
She couldn’t fight the feral side in her as she stabbed it with a fork and began to eat it with fury, she didn’t want the baked potato now.  
Renida wanted blood, lots off it.  
And this ‘steak’ was exactly what she was looking for. 

A sultry laugh came from behind as she finished up the questionable meat, she quickly dropped the knife and turned to see the woman in question.

Tourmaline leaned against the wall with her thighs as she had one arm under her chest in a hugging motion whilst the other was gingerly touching her lips to compliment her laugh. Her robes were covering everything important yet still show off her feminine stature, she held herself like the queen that she was.   
“Do you like it? There’s more waiting for you if you need it~ Feel free to eat as much as you’d like.” Renida got cold feet immediately as she stood in their kitchen.

‘What do I say? Say? SaY?’ 

She shut her mind as she gave Tourmaline a soft smile “Thank you, yes.. yes.. thank you.”

Tourmaline gave her a nod as Renida looked at the other bloody meat.  
“Don’t hold back~” Tourmaline purred as Uldren leaned in beside her, unable to keep his hands off of his woman as they watched Renida stab another piece of meat.

Renida now stood there messing with one of Equinox’s bullets hidden from her hair as Tourmaline came up to her “My poor Dear, don’t worry about anything now. You’re safe here with us” she pulled Renida into a hug as she rested her arm softly on her head.  
“But my friends...”  
“They never were your friends.” Tourmaline’s voice became stern as she held her.  
“Renida, do me a favor..”   
“Don’t ever speak of them again unless I ask, okay?” Renida stayed quiet as her nails dug into the back of Tourmaline, Her inner mind fighting on what to think. “Yes..Wait... Okay.”

Tourmaline let her go, but remained close to brush her bangs out of her eyes “Enough of that, now make yourself at home. Uldren and I have work to do.”

When she was finished Tourmaline gave a tug on Uldren’s cloak in a beckoning fashion as she headed down the hall, leaving Renida alone in the kitchen.


	5. Welcome home

Faren and Equinox have been tracking Hawthorn for the few weeks, they’ve been so busy on their quest that they haven’t returned home since the incident.

See they aren’t the only monsters out there in the EDZ, Shaxx is somewhere in those woods with the same drive they have, the hunt.  
But he craves a different kind of blood, one that’s black with the thickness of something inhuman. Guardians.

Many nights they could not light a fire due to the presumption Shaxx was near, they lived on shifts and to be honest, as much as they wouldn’t like to admit it,  
Loosing that third pair of eyes watching their back really made them vulnerable. 

So they were silent, tracking during the day and being fearful through the night, No rest for them until they finished their mission.

But alas they had to regroup, no food for days of not hunting started to weigh on them. Granted they won’t die of starvation.. at least not anymore, but not eating human meat makes a Guardian’s Redlight go weak and consider them easy prey to the bigger fish, their regeneration would take longer and ultimately they become killable.

They arrived at the front of their apartment complex, both of them knew Renida would have forgotten about the ordeal by now and just be happy their back. 

Faren went first up the rusted metal steps but soon after he stopped and signaled Equinox that something wasn’t right.

Equinox silently made his way to the landing and they both saw their door was slightly ajar, the padlock that kept it locked from the outside now laid broken on the ground.   
Faren and Equinox exchanged a look as they lifted their weapons, Faren side stepping up the stairs until he silently pushed the door open to reveal their apartment.

Things were scattered around the floor with seemingly malicious intent as glass and darkened blood stained the floors, the wall was littered with scratches and all of Faren’s books were strewn out across the couch.

Almost as if someone was looking for a word they could no longer remember...

The worst was their large billboard that rested against the wall towards the kitchen, written in chalk was the writings of a madman.

“Wheel...wheel...wheel..whee1..wheel..wheel..”  
“Don’t forget, ᴰᵒⁿ’ᵗ ᶠᵒʳᵍᵉᵗ” “ˢᵉᵐᶦⁿᵃʳ” “they’l1 be home any minut3” “LEAvE! LEaVE! LEAVE!” “Tʜᴇ ɴɪɢʜᴛᴍᴀʀᴇs” “CᴏʟʟᴀᴘsE” “ᴵ ʷᶦˡˡ ʷᵃᶦᵗ ᶠᵒʳ ᵗʰᵉᵐ.” “ThousaNd yeaRs” “ˢᶜᵒʳⁿ ᵇˡᵒᵒᵈ”   
“whEEL?” “WHEEL!” “Wheel, wheel, we’ll?”  
“We’ll.” “We’ll” “W̶h̶e̶e̶l̶ We’ll”  
“ᵂᶦˡˡ ᵐʸ ᶠʳᶦᵉⁿᵈˢ ˢᵗᵒᵖ ˢᶜʳᵉᵃᵐᶦⁿᵍˀ” “expRESSION” “ᴴᵒᵖᵉ ʰᵒᵖᵉ ʰᵒᵖᵉ ʰᵒᵖᵉ ᴴᴼᴾᴱᵎ ᴴᴼᴾᴱᵎ ᴴᴼᴾᴱᵎ”  
“ᴰᴿᴱᴰᴳᴱᴺ ᴴᴼᴾᴱᵎ”

This was followed by thousands of scribbles around the writing and bloody hand prints, broken chalk, and white powder on the floor that led a trail throughout the kitchen. 

Equinox was fuming now as his hunger took over, he waited too long to eat and now he charged throughout the house to find the culprit. “Should’ve left her for Shaxx to deal with! And now look at our base! I’ll feed her to him myself when I catch that red headed brat!” He storms into the bedroom and looks around, he doesn’t notice how their beds are tucked in perfectly with love and care.

But when he does it starts to show like a bright light in the night as their stuff has been cleaned up, but nothing was taken. The shotgun canon he was working on rested against the worktable, his plans were neatly rolled up and set in a aesthetically pleasing stack with all of his pencils in a row.   
Faren’s bookshelf had been arranged in perfect order and only one book laid on the floor, titled ‘Echoes Followed By Silence”.  
The only place dirty was underneath the bunk beds, which had many shiny trinkets laid out and her blanket that looked like someone hid behind it.

He grabs at the blanket and jerks it out, only to find it was her pillow making the shape. The neatness of the room starts to unsettle him, he groans and walks out. 

“What now?” Faren asks as he stood over his opened books, his gloved hands gently touching the pages as he noticed the numbers were circled with an empty pen, merely giving a translucent circle that embedded the pages.

‘8, 15, 18, 19, 5’

“Nothing. Clean up this mess and we’ll move on”  
Faren glared up at him “I’m not the maid.” Equinox sized him up with red orbs that burnt deep into Faren’s eyes, though neither of them backed down, Equinox spoke again “I wasn’t asking”

“You made this mess, Equinox, it’s your job to clean it up. You want to be in charge? Fine, do your own dirty work.” And with that Faren walked past him with their shoulders colliding, a fair warning he won this argument and any act of deviance they’d gladly shed blood. 

Equinox sighed and went to the table, slamming his fist down with tired rage. Hungry.  
He heard the sound of something clink on the table from his impact and finally looked at the item laid in front of him, a small crow’s foot poised with open claws.

Faren has already seen this, and knew exactly who put it there.. it was Uldren’s calling card after all.

And with that, Equinox realized he may have had an oversight on his plans, he needed a new team member who could fill in the space.  
Someone who was just as insane plus more, with a hunger for killing and could be a reliable ally.

The Drifter.


	6. The Ally

So hungry...

Drifter scoured the streets in a hurried frenzy as he felt his stomach claw at his insides. The all too familiar feeling of starvation, something so strong it gave him the worst migraine “Need..something...soon” he grabbed at his stomach as he stumbled into a trash can, it fell over with a loud clang and echoed through the dead streets.

“Still as desperate as ever,” a voice from the shadows rung through the air “Clinging on to that last bit of sanity.. You always were in over your head” it spoke again, Male.. Exo from the sound of it.  
“What do you want from me?! I’ll kill you, eat you! You and your little friends don’t scare me..” He yelled out in anger as he leaned against a street pole.  
“I’ve come to make a deal” the voice came from right behind him now, he grabbed his sword and turned with one quick slice.  
Metal clashed, Equinox held his gun to block it with little struggle “You want food, I need eyes. We can come to an agreement then.”  
Drifter glared at him with hazed eyes, Drifter could only see similar to our view, but the Heat signatures of the person overtook the eyesight.

“What do you want from me? I’m not runnin’ things no more, you don’t need me”  
Equinox merely let out a rough small chuckle as he lowered his weapon “You’re right, I don’t need you. But I have a sweet offer for anyone willing to watch my back,” his ghost transmitted a large sack at the Drifter’s feet, one filled with enough meat to finally cure that migraine.  
Drifter’s more primal senses took over, his knees buckled and his eyes were completely blinded by a red blur of what could only be human blood.  
He devoured as much as he could then, not bothering to clean himself as blood stained the lower half of his face.  
“More where that came from, let’s get moving” Equinox commanded as he started walking away from the crazed man.  
Drifter soon followed after with the bag dragging closely behind him, wiping his chin off on his tattered gi sleeve.

Faren was skeptical of the new addition as he rested in the living room lounge chair, his left leg perched across his right as he exhaled onto his crossed fingers. He knew who Drifter was, what he is now, he wouldn’t be the best replacement.  
“Equinox, are you sure about this?” Faren’s tone physically mocked Equinox-3 where he stood, causing his red LEDs to flair up “Of course I’m sure!” Meanwhile Drifter was currently mumbling to himself and throwing out items over his shoulder from one of their storage containers.  
Faren thinned his lips as he glared at the Exo, he decided to let Equinox handle this all on his own, things could’ve stayed the same, it was his fault that she left, his fault that Drifter was here too.  
Faren.. dislikes the Drifter, to say the least.  
He can tolerate him if that means safety in groups, the ability to keep eyes at every angle with no blind spots, but Drifter goes by his own code.  
He follows orders slim to none as he is unable to hold himself back from prey. He has no ability to work as a team, he sees it, it’s his meal.  
Faren missed Renida almost, as much as he hated her at least she still had some bit of sanity.. okay only a tiny smidge, but it was still there somewhere. Mostly she was reliable.

Equinox tried to go over plans with Eli but it seemed Eli was too paranoid of what’s here to get him, he didn’t pay attention. Eventually Equinox got tired of it..

He loaded his canon and fired six rounds deep into the other man’s chest “Shut. up.” It was silent for a moment, Drifter started to regenerate back from his spot now against the wall “You can’t aim worth-“ “Watch it.” Equinox interrupted Drifter.  
“Field work tomorrow, you lag behind? You stay behind. No meals for lazy good for nothing’s” he walked out of the room with his shoulders placed tensely to match his mechanical steps.

Drifter slumped down to sit on the tiled floor as his wounds finally healed, he fumbled around with a red string that seemed to be cut in half long ago.  
Faren stepped into the room as he silently glanced at the man resting on their floor. His eyes locking on the red string intertwined in Eli’s fingers, he recognized the pattern almost instantly. Something strange came over him, like he felt a sense of a past vision try to enter his mind.  
Faren’s body started to burn, his head seeded with sudden pain that made him yell out and grab at his temples.  
He blinked rapidly as white smoke came from the corners of his vision, he gritted his teeth as the white flashed over him for only a moment.

Darkness..  
Faren opened his eyes to be standing in a Pre-Red Tower now, all of the people he knew looked entirely different.  
He was frozen in the middle of a Festival of the Loss as families went around lighting candles and praying, some told stories and laughed by a large table of delicious smelling food that caused Faren’s stomach to churn.

He was disgusted, confused, even a bit uneasy from this view.. Was he dead?

Faren glared at his sister as he finally caught sight of her and Uldren, they were lighting a candle together and Uldren asked for forgiveness to the flames as Tourmaline helped him through it.  
“I don’t know if I should..” he began as Tourmaline shushed him “Uldren, this is your last chapter to put your old self to rest. You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but I’ll be here for you either way.”  
Uldren told the flame how sorry he was to have killed Cayde, he spoke to the candle as if the Exo was standing right in front of them. The candle danced as he finished his speech, almost as if Cayde was laughing at him now. He closed his eyes and gave one final prayer to thank the Exo for taking care of his beautiful wife and then he blew out the candle.  
And just like that, the tradition was complete.

Faren walked away from the two before he saw Equinox laughing with the Drifter from across the room, a real shock to him that made him almost bust into laughter for the first time in years..

Renida walked over to Drifter and gave him a glass of champagne as she congratulated Equinox on a new rank, they all made jokes and genuinely got along. Renida placed a kiss on the side of Eli’s cheek as he pulled her close, she held two champagne glasses now as she weaseled her way from his grip with a grin “I’ll be back in two shakes!” Renida called as she began to head Faren’s way 

Faren felt something take over his body, something he never felt before.. fear. Fear took over his body as he felt this was right, this was as it should be.

Renida was quick to approach as he barely even recognized her. Her hair was pinned back in a long soft ponytail as her bangs framed her face, her clothes weren’t torn or bloodied and her eyes shown no traces of irritation.. in fact he then realized no one had red irises.  
“Hey, thought you wouldn’t show” she spoke softly as she handed him the glass of champagne. Faren felt his blood boil with anger and fear as he remained silent to her conversation starters “isn’t it beautiful? The Traveler.. Dee tells me it’s just some bright rock, but I don’t think so.. Not all the time, at least..” she took a small sip of her drink as Faren stared at the white orb in the sky, his eyes squinting as red danced in his vision once more. “These people celebrate their loved ones, those lost in the war or died protecting humans.. It’s very noble. They died as Guardians, we can only hope to live up to that title one day.”

Faren’s arm twitched as he reached in the air and his flame sword materialized “THIS ISN’T REAL!” He yelled as the champagne glass shattered at his feet, his breath rugged as he felt to be completely insane.  
He began to swipe at everything he could as it sent flame walls in each direction “GET OUT OF MY HEAD!” He gave one final slash to his right, where his best friend stood but only to find the place was empty now.  
His flames took hold and started to burn around him as the floor gave way, his hands tried to grab any bit of solid surface as he heard himself say “Wait, I don’t want to go!” before plummeting into the dark abyss.

Then the white light blinded him once more and he found himself laying on his back in the kitchen as stared at the light hanging overhead.  
“You kidding me?” Faren felt a rough kick brandish his ribs. He let out a grunt as he grabbed at his side and looked up at the dark Exo lurking above him “I said up and out of here by six and what do I see? Slacking on the job” he kicked him again and this time it was on the hand that now blocked his side.  
Faren pulled his dagger from his leg slit and stabbed Equinox’s joints right where the knee connects. The knife was now embedded deep in Equinox’s controls causing the leg itself to lock up, their battle ensued and they both were left as regenerating corpses as Drifter was too busy tapping into their food supply to care.


End file.
